From across the pond – 7/29/19

From across the pond

Hi, we’re Denis Gillespie and Tobias Maclure-O’Reilly from Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Ireland. We are both programmers who have just finished our final year and are taking part in the Summer Innovation Program at MassDiGI.

L-R: Denis Gillespie, John Conaghan (LYIT lecturer), Tobias Maclure-O’Reilly

We were gifted the great opportunity to participate in the programme and jumped at the chance to come to the states. So far, we have been introduced to the inner workings of a game development studio, met industry professionals, and experienced American culture. While we have been working here, we have been able to enhance our ability to work with a team of artists, programmers, and an audio designer (shout out to Ethan Reese). Over our time here so far we have met industry professionals from WB Games Boston, the Indie Game Collective, Demiurge Studios and past SIP alumni. These meetings provided us with the opportunity to learn about the industry and playtest our games, which gave us valuable feedback to further the development of our games. But it is not all work, we have also been able to enjoy national parks taking in the sights, experience our first 4th of July, American food and nightlife.

We are part of two seperate teams, Team Banoffee and Team Cherry. Banoffee consists of three artists – Amanda Saker, Ben Aube and Oriana Carletto, three programmers – Jason Gertner, Sarah Ke and myself (Denis), and the audio designer Ethan Reese. The working title of our game is Roller Riot – a mobile arcade brawler with a futuristic Roller Derby theme. Cherry is made up of three artists – Angel Ortiz , Emma Lowry , Savannah Gaspar three programmers – Griffin Beels, Sebastian Schindler, myself (Tobias) and the always busy audio designer, Ethan. We are developing a mobile endless runner about a young hero, Omar, that must save his people from the diminishing light. The game has the working title of Save the Flame! Both team Cherry and Banoffee are reaching the end of their development goals for the summer program. With the aim of a soft release this autumn.

Here’s a sneak peak of what our games currently look like:

For both of us this was our first time across the pond. It has been a once in a lifetime experience, that we are sure we will never forget.

P.S. Don’t let Brandon cook steak